Mop cleaning device



May 5, 1931. A. 5, POWELL 1,804,229

MOP CLEANING DEVICE Filed June 29, 1929` Y l ATTORNEY Patented May 5, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALFRVEDKS. POWELL, 0F FLORAL PARK, NEW YORK, ASSGNOR TO STRAN SKY PRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK MOP CLEANING DEVICE Application led .T une l29,

'This invention relates to mop cleaners of the type comprising a grille or open work cleaner adapted to detach particles of dirt from the mop head when the mop is reciprocated. i

An object of the invention is toprovide a cleaning device or open work structure which may be inserted removably into a suitable casing wherein the mop may be reciprocated, thereby providing a cleaning device which may be adapted by any purchaser to a suitable casing, or which may be sold as a complete mop cleaner, including both the casing and the cleaning device therein. Another object of the invention is to provide a mop cleaning device with spaced apart open work cleaning members which extend in substantially parallel planes, so that the head of a mop may be cleaned which has its mop strands orlaments extending in opposite directions, thereby providing a double mop head as it is customary with some types of dry mops. Other objects of the invention are to provide a simple, durable and efficient mop cleaner which may be sold at a reasonable price and which is Vpreferably so constructed that the cleaning device proper may be removed from the casing which encloses it, or which may be inserted into any suitable casing.

These being among the objects of the present invention, the same consists of certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and then claimed with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating one embodiment of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the mop cleaner on the line 1-1, Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof on the line 2 2, Fig. 1, the mop being illustrated in Fig. 1, but omitted in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 3 is a top view of the mop cleaner showing the cover swung open.

The casing of the mop cleaner may be made of any suitable material and in any suitable construction. As shown in the drawings, the casing comprises side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 which are arranged so as to provide a four sided casing with rectangular 192e. serial No. 374,823.

- 15 are extended down below the bottom of the casing so .as to provide supporting legs 16, to support the casing at some distance above the floor. A cross-piece 17 connects two of the legs so as to provide a foot rest to enable the user to hold the mop cleaner against movement about the floor.l

As before stated the top of the casing is left open, and the opening is closed by a cover 18 which is connected by a hinge 19 with the casing, and the cover may be held closed by means of a spring catch 20, which may be readily disengaged to enable the cover to be swung open. That portion of the cover which is beyond the hinge 19 is provided with a transverse slot or notch 21 which is long enough to extend j ust beyond the vertical center of the casing, and as is obvious a mop may be arranged for'cleaning by the device, in which case the handle 22 extends through the slot 21, so that when it is reciproca-ted up and down, the double or other suitable mop head 23 may be moved with the handle.

Within the casing there is located a cleaningk device which preferably comprises two side wires 25, 26 connected by horizontal wires 27 so as to form a grille or open work device. The side wires 25, 26 are bent intermediately of their lengths in such a manner as to provide ltwo cleaning members 28, 29 which are substantiallythe same length and are slightlyY of less width than the greater dimension of the casing. The side wires 25, 26 at their bends are formed with inwardly directed portions 30 which provide abutments through the medium of abutment wires 31, which are some of the horizontal wires above mentioned.l It will be seen that as the mop is pusheddown it will `be stopped by the abutment wires 31. Furthermore the bent portions of the side wires 25, 26 include which are deflected a suitable distance below ico the inwardly directed portions 30. The downwardly deflected portions 32 form legs for supporting the cleaning device within the casing, so that the abutment wires 31 will be located at a suitable distance above the bottom of the casing, thereby providing a space for dirt, etc. which is dislodged from the mop during its reciprocative contact with the horizontal dirt detaching wires.

Side wires Q5, 26 have at their upper ends outwardly Haring or directed portions 83, and the side wires are connected together at the outerl extremities of the Haring portions 33 by means of horizontal wires or members 34. The side wires andthe connecting wires 34 may all be composed ot one length of wire with a. single joint, as is perfectly obvious, or

such.V parts Vm ayiheY formed miseparate pieces connected by welding or the like. One function of the upper transverse members 34 is for the purpose of engaging underneath opposite, inward, beads or shoulders 35, of which there are at least two at opposite sides of the top of the casing. As the wires 25, 26 are of spring metal, such as steel wire, it is obvious that when the cleaning device is inserted into the casing and its legs 32 brought to bear upon the casing bottom 14, the members 34 may be caused to spring or snap underneath the beads or shoulders 35, which hold the wire cleaning device against upward movement, except when the engaging members 34 are disengaged from underneath the beads or shoulders 35. f

It will be seen that when the wire cleaning device is in using position, that a suitably narrow throatV is provided between the opposed cleaning members 28, 29 which extend upwardly and permit the mop head to be reciprocated up and down in contact with the dirt detachingy wires 27, the stop wires 3l preventing the mop head from being pushed down into the dirt collected in the space below them. The throat or space between the cleaning members 28, 29 is preferably quite narrow relatively to the two linear. dimensions of the same on account of the manner in which the mop is cleaned in the device. It is obvious that one of the beads 35 lmay contain a pintle for the hinge 19 in well known manner, as shown. The collected dirt may be removed in any suitable manner, even through a suitably closed aperture in the bottom portion of the casing, but under the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the dirt is emptied out of the top of the casing, and if the presence of the cleaning device is not desired, it is a very simple matter to remove the same from the casing and then dump out the dirt. It is a very easy matter for anyone to assemble the cleaning device with the casing for use, and when the cleaning device is in position in the casing it is held against accidental removal.

What I claim as new, is:

l. A mop cleaner, including a casing, a cleaning device having spaced apart openworl cleaning members extending in substantially parallel planes, the device having also stop abutments for the mop located at the lower parts'otl and between the cleaning members, and means extending from and below the abutments and bearing on the bottom of the casing, for supporting the device.

2. A mop cleaner, including a cleaning device having spaced apart open-work cleaning members extending in substantially parallel planes, and the device comprising vertical side wires and horizontal connecting wires, the side wires being continued between the lower portions of the cleaning members, and there provided withinwardly directed portions supported a few of said horizontal wires to form mop abutments, and said side wires bent and extended downwardly below the latter wires to form a support for the device.

3. A mop cleaner, comprising a'casing having an opening Jfor receiving the head of a mop, the bottom of the casing being closed, a shoulder adjacent the opening, and a cleaning device including a spring metal frame sprung into engagement with the casing bottom and the shoulder.

4. A mop cleaner, comprising a casing closed at the bottom and having an opening for receiving a mop head, upright cleaning members in the casing spaced apart toward said opening to engage the mop head, means at the upper ends of the cleaning members for retaining the same in the casing, abutments for the mop located between the lower ends of the cleaning members, and supporting means for the cleaning members extending below the abutments for resting on the casin@f bottom. i

lo. A mop cleaner, comprising a casing having an open top for receiving the head of a mop, a shoulder adjacent the top opening, and a cleaning device including a spring metal frame sprung into engagement with the bottom of the casing and the shoulder.

ALFRED S. POVELL. 

